Sovereign of the Ashes

Chapter 102: Simple Experiment

The one who possessed battle qi was none other than the bandit leader himself.

In terms of appearance, there was no noticeable difference between him and the other bandits. He merely looked more robust than the rest of them.

He was the first to react to Sein’s fireballs, displaying a speed exceeding the limits of an ordinary human as he skillfully evaded the spell’s trajectory.

As a senior initiate, Sein lacked the ability to envelop an area with his focus like full-fledged mage.

Nevertheless, he could easily perceive changes at a close distance.

On the bandit leader’s body, Sein detected a trace of power reminiscent of the knights from the surface who had participated in the destruction of Mystralora City.

Of course, the strength between them was like day and night.

This bandit leader’s combat power was only comparable to that of a fresh initiate.

Originally intending to disperse the bandits, Sein unexpectedly gained some valuable insights.

He had been curious about the battle qi power controlled by the knights from the surface for a long time.

However, this knowledge had eluded him until now due to lack of specimens or relevant books. To his delight, a living sample had now presented itself.

Sein’s intimidating Minor Fireball spells had driven the remaining bandits away.

Only the leader found himself obstructed by Sein’s Fire Wall spell.

Although the flames did not directly touch him, they singed a significant portion of his hair and eyebrows.

Now, the leader looked much more pathetic than Sein in appearance.

As the Fire Wall spell dispersed, Sein scrutinized the middle-aged man, now devoid of any will to fight and appeared panic-stricken. He reminded Sein of some feeble underground creatures he had dissected back at the Black Magic Academy.

“What is your name, and where do you come from? Where did you come to possess battle qi?” Sein inquired in an icy tone.

Despite Sein’s attempt to sound gentle, the inherent aura of a black magic initiate sent shivers down the physically strong middle-aged man’s spine.

Faced with Sein’s questioning, the bandit leader stammered out a response.

He struggled to articulate, either due to a lack of education or the fear-induced chaos in his mind.

As Sein strained to understand his words, his expression involuntarily turned cold, causing the bandit leader’s face to turn even paler.

***

The surface world, like the underground, followed the principle of survival of the fittest.

The crucial difference lay in the strict prohibition imposed on knights and mages with transcendent power, preventing him from indiscriminately killing ordinary people and conducting inhumane research on the native beings of the Magus World.

However, the criminals among ordinary humans were excluded from the protection offered by the Divine Towers and the Orders of the Knights.

The Divine Tower Academies, mage councils or knight houses annually dispatched their best magic initiates or squires to undertake missions aimed at exterminating evil magic beasts and troublesome bandits.

From the bandit leader named Leif, Sein gathered that the battle qi he possessed was acquired from the guards of Seveille City.

Leif, a former guard in Seveille City, fled after being caught stealing from the city lord’s mansion.

After fleeing Seveille City, he formed a bandit group of his own.

Leif explained that the captain of the guards at the time had implanted something known as a battle qi seed in his body and passed on a set of breathing techniques.

Although he had no idea what a battle qi seed was, he vividly recalled the breathing technique.

It was the reason why Leif could be strong enough to lead a bandit group.

The breathing technique Sein acquired from Leif reminded him of the one he mastered when he was only a child.

However, the breathing technique taught by the guards in Seveille City was simpler and cruder compared to the one Sein knew.

Mere practice of the breathing technique yielded no results; supplementation with a battle qi seed was essential. Through prolonged nurture and cultivation, only then could the seeds truly condense usable battle qi.

Leif, despite possessing battle qi, was not particularly impressive.

Only those who could externalize their battle qi could be truly considered powerful.

As Leif described the guards from Seveille City according to Leif, Sein deduced that a knight who had recently mastered the release of battle qi could match the strength of a junior initiate who was able to unleash an offensive magic spell.

Not only that, he also estimated the captain of Seville City’s guards likely possessed the strength on par to an intermediate initiate.

This made Sein wonder about the potential existence of even more powerful knights in that city.

So only children between the age of ten to twelve are selected to receive a battle qi seed?

Looks like my family merely taught me the breathing technique without giving me a battle qi seed because I was underage.

Why was I abducted by human traffickers and sold to Gloomhaven though?

Considering the sophistication of the breathing technique imparted to me, the Grantt family should wield greater power than the Seveille City.

Thoughts whirled in Sein’s mind.

Grantt. That was Sein’s last name.

The information he gleaned from Leif clouded his heart and soured his mood.

As Sein lifted his gaze to meet the bandit leader, his foul mood manifested in a frigid glare that could send shivers down anyone’s spine.

The bandit leader, Leif, cowered by the roots of a tree at the side of the road, looking like a helpless quail.

Sein took a deep breath, then beckoned to Leif and said, “Come here, let me do an experiment.”

“Don’t worry, it won’t hurt much,” he assured.

As Sein spoke, a simple experiment table materialized in the forest.

Leif could not fathom how that strange, white, one-person-long experiment table had appeared.

The ominous look in Sein’s eyes stirred an instinctive urge in him to run away.

Unbeknownst to him, a half-man tall, huge owl had appeared in front of him and hooted.

“This guy doesn’t seem cooperative. Let me assist you.”

With a flap of Seven’s wings, a thin Aero Chain bounded the bandit leader’s body.

This was an elemental chain capable of retraining even an intermediate initiate.

Faced with the unexpected appearance of the owl and Sein, who was approaching with a silver scalpel, Leif failed to suppress a miserable scream.

The scream, however, was swiftly silenced.

Only a large flock of birds of various colors flew away from the treetops, indicating that something unusual was taking place in this forest.

***

“Hmm, his body structure isn’t much different from a normal human. There was a trace of strange energy in his abdomen, but the moment I sliced open his abdomen, that energy quickly dissipated... Could that be battle qi?” Sein mumbled to himself.

Having just concluded a simple dissection experiment, he proceeded to clean his hands and experiment tools with a Water Ball spell.

The bandit leader was still alive. Sein even anesthetized him with underground blue moss.

The only difference from half a day ago was that Leif now bore several wounds that had been stitched up.

His battle qi seemed to have vanished permanently though.